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Mangonui County Hospital - The First Far North Hospital
Prior to the hospital being built, only those who could afford it, had to travel to Auckland for treatment. The boat trip was sometimes tortuous and intending patients had to carry a certificate of authorisation from the Mangonui County Council before they were admitted into the hospital in Auckland.
At the dawning of the 20th century the township of Mangonui was the most populated district in the Far North. Nestled at the southern end of Doubtless Bay it was home to Ngāti Kahu and early whalers, traders, and industry.
Prior to the hospital being built, only those who could afford it, had to travel to Auckland for treatment. The boat trip was sometimes tortuous and intending patients had to carry a certificate of authorisation from the Mangonui County Council before they were admitted into the hospital in Auckland.
Locally, medical assistance was restricted to the odd doctor, a midwife or two, and those who made their own homemade or other cures. Māori, most of whom could ill-afford the fees of a doctor let alone a trip to Auckland applied their natural Rongoā remedies used for a wide range of diseases and illnesses.
The need for hospital facilities was discussed and a committee set up by the county council towards the end of 1903 to explore the feasibility of establishing a hospital. The burning issue of the day was the choosing of the site. To the predominantly Mangonui-oriented committee Mangonui was ideal. However, western county residents preferred it was built in Kaitaia, claiming it was more central.
In September 1904, and after much debate a site in Mangonui was offered. Fundraising in the district began and Kauri timber for the building of the Mangonui County Hospital was donated by the Lane family in Totara North, and building started in 1906.
There were eight medical and eight surgical beds, an additional maternity area for four, both a men’s and women’s ward, theatre and x-ray room, matrons’ office, morgue and a house surgeon’s and service rooms.
The hospital was officially opened on 8 February 1907. With the rise of the dairy industry in Kaitaia and the arrival of the Bell Brothers in 1914, the population growth and prosperity accelerated in Kaitaia, and pressures to shift the hospital increased but to no avail.
In 1927, a small building was set up in Kaitaia for a hospital. However, a call to shift the district hospital in Mangonui arose again and eventually the hospital moved to Kaitaia in 1934.
References:
Kaitaia: Portraits from the Past. Parker, Keith. Bridgewater Publications, Kamo, New Zealand. 1999.
Kaitaia’s Hospital: A Glimpse at Hospital Services and Volunteer Health Care in the Far North 1904 – 2004. Parker, Keith. Bridgewater Publications, Kamo, New Zealand. 2005.